Politicians Think it’s Impossible to Win Elections Without a Rigging Plan – Itodo
The Executive Director of YIAGA Africa, an election observer, Samson Itodo, has blasted politicians who think it’s not possible to win an election without a rigging plan.
He stated this during his appearance on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily programme, lamenting that many Nigerian politicians have made it a norm to consider rigging elections as a necessary component of their campaign strategies.
In his comment, Itodo bemoaned that politicians now budget for compromising officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), security personnel, and even election observers.
“Politicians think that in budgeting for elections, you must budget for INEC where you have to compromise INEC officials, you have to compromise security officials and buy up elections observers and it’s all sort of malfeasance.
“It’s just the paradigm of our politicians and they think it’s not possible to win an election without a rigging plan,” Itodo said.
The group stated further that to conduct credible elections with credible results, the Electoral Act 2022, the Constitution and INEC guidelines must be strictly adhered to.
“The current 2022 Electoral Act, the Constitution, and INEC guidelines as currently enshrined, if we play by those rules, we would have elections where the outcome would not be questioned. We just have a political culture where politicians think it’s impossible to win elections without a rigging plan,” he said.
Speaking further, Itodo called on politicians to refrain from thuggery and voter suppression, abide by the rules, respect the will of the people, and demonstrate love for the country.
